James Potter and the Marauders of Hogwarts
by EmeraldChaos
Summary: Rated to be safe.Styled like the Harry Potter books but its James story. James first year and how he meets the marauders.
1. Default Chapter

DISCLAIMER – THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN FOR A NON PROFIT WEBSITE WITH NO MONEY GAIN FROM ANY SOURCE. I DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTER FROM THIS STORY AND I DO NOT OWN HOGWARTS EITHER.  
  
Authors note: Its easier making a general disclaimer for the whole story rather than a disclaimer at the beginning of each chapter. This is the disclaimer. There will be only this one and no others. All your base are belong to us. 


	2. At the Potter's house

Chapter 1 – At The Potter's House  
  
James Potter was currently engaged in an epic battle of wizard's chess with his best, and at the moment, only friend Sirius Black. Sirius was surprisingly alike to James that they had been known to finish each other's sentences, and this gave Mr. And Mrs. Potter a serious case of the creeps. They were both hopeless at wizard's chess, which is what had lead to this epic of a game. But it would soon be over.  
  
"James and Sirius dear, your letters have come!" They heard Mrs. Potter's yell from the drawing room, where they were playing chess. James stood up. He was rather tall for his age, rather skinny considering he lived with a somewhat well off family. His eyes were a deep Hazel and could be useful for portraying his emotions without the use of his face, but usually they were mischievous or innocent. He had light muscles that had been built from the countless hours of Quidditch he played at his house with Sirius. He also had jet-black hair that refused to stay down, giving him a permanently scruffy look. He walked upstairs to collect their letters, not noticing serious ordering some of his pieces to take some of James's pieces. He came back to find his king being chased of his square by two bishops.  
  
"I thought I had a few more pieces than that..." James muttered "Anyway," he continued in a lighter tone "We've both got our letters from Hogwarts, and it looks like your mum has sent you a letter as well." He handed the letter from Sirius's mother to Sirius, who promptly walked to the fire and tore it up without reading it. James chuckled. Sirius was about as tall as James, but his hair was shoulder length and he had a sort of aura of grace that James found impossible to emulate. He also was well known for his superb looks of innocence in times when a normal boy would admit defeat, as well as being able to pull off cute, surprised and mocking. Sirius stayed with the Potters this summer because he hated his family, and had surprisingly been able to convince them to let him stay. Sirius swept his hair out of his face and James saw a look of revulsion twisted into his usually mischievous face.  
  
"I touched it! Do you know any powerful disinfectant spells? I mean we'll need to use it on you and your mum as well," at this James grinned. Sirius came from a family of pureblood wizards who were quite hell-bent on the idea that they were practically royal. Luckily Sirius was a Black who didn't care about blood, colour, creed or religion, he played pranks on people indiscriminately. But at heart Sirius was a noble, brave person. "It was probably a warning that if I don't join Slytherin I'll receive a howler," Sirius mumbled "Or it could be telling you that we were to avoid muggleborn witches and wizards and only become friends with people of noble birth," James imitated Sirius's mother's look as he said this. James had come from a pureblood family as well, which James said only gave him one advantage; he was allowed to invite Sirius over to his house. "Or..." Sirius had begun but Mrs. Potter had interrupted him with a very stern look on her face.  
  
"I hope you weren't about to criticise your family Sirius" "But Mrs. Potter criticism is an opinion, we all know my family is nuts," Sirius had an extremely innocent look on his face and Mrs. Potter was struggling to resist. Sirius widened his eyes a little more in a gesture of supreme innocence, and the inevitable happened, Mrs. Potter bit her lip and let it go. The Potter's may have been almost as noble a family as the Black's, but they really didn't care where a person came from, they just cared whether they were a good person. "So," Mrs potter said, changing the subject "We had better go to Diagon alley to pick up your books and wands." Both Sirius's and James's faces had split into identical wide grins. 


	3. Day out in London

Chapter 2 – A day out in London  
  
James and Sirius had followed Mrs. Potter down a long street until she stopped and flicked her wand. Almost immediately a large, triple-decker bus with a violently purple frame had appeared next to her wand. The boys grinned at each other and then goggled at the man who appeared by the door.  
  
"Welcome to the Knight bus Mrs. Potter," The bus conductor, an elderly man with white hair and one tooth, had said to her. "I assume you'll be heading to London," He added looking at James and Sirius, who had been goggling at him.  
  
"Yes, thank you Ernie," Mrs. Potter replied with a grin on her face. She got on very well with the staff of the Knight bus. James and Sirius walked onto the bus and stared at the armchairs and kitchen apparatus. They promptly ran over to the largest, most comfortable looking armchair and fought over it, ending with Mrs. Potter, who had paid her fee of one galleon and 6 sickles for the three of them, sitting on the chair and the two boys grumpily choosing armchairs at the opposite ends of the bus. It was rather quiet on the bus, seeing as it was early in the morning. The trip went quite smoothly except for a large jolt that caused Mrs. Potter to spill her tea, which leapt right onto James's hair. Sirius had fell on the floor laughing while Mrs. Potter washed her sons face, oblivious to his scowling.  
  
"Thanks for the ride," Sirius and James chorused in a singsong voice as they departed from the bus with looks of innocence on their faces.  
  
"I believe these are your gentlemen," Ernie said indicating a large pile of black eggs that he had collected from under the seats of the armchairs, where Sirius and James had placed them. "I do not think anyone would have liked to sit on these eggs, especially as when they are sat on they emit large," he paused with a grin on his old face "farting noises."  
Mrs. Potter chided the boys who took back the eggs they had placed.  
  
"Well," James whispered to Sirius as Mrs. Potter was apologising for the boys to Ernie "There's always the Hogwarts express" and the boys stuffed the eggs into their pocket.  
  
They stepped into the leaky cauldron with Mrs. Potter, who still looked a little angry with them, and purposefully walked over to the backdoor and into the little alley. Mrs. Potter took out her wand and tapped the third brick to the left and the boys grinned at each other as they were back in Diagon alley (they had been once before, but the incident had involved a lot of tomato ketchup and two hammers, and they had got into huge trouble). As soon as the boys stepped through the wall, two large burly wizards who had seen them arrive gripped them. After a thorough pocket search, James and Sirius walked towards Gringotts, grumbling about the tight security and planning a way to get the eggs back.  
  
After retrieving some money, Mrs. Potter took them to Madame Malkins robes for all occasions to get their robes, then to various bookshops to get their books, the apothecaries to get potions ingredients, then to get their practical equipment (A cauldron, telescope, and dragon hide gloves for herbology). As the boys stared longingly at the new cleansweep 3, Mrs. Potter sighed and dragged the boys by the ears to Ollivanders. Mr Ollivander usually intimidated his young customers (and some of the older ones as well) with his strange looks and habits. But Sirius and James weren't scared, and enjoyed trying out wands destroying lots of furniture in the testing room in the process. Walking out of Ollivanders with their wands, which had emitted black and gold sparks for Sirius and James respectively, they pleaded with Mrs. Potter to buy a pet. Well, James argued, Sirius had his own money to spend. After getting Sirius to pull a cute face to persuade his mum, James walked out with a handsome male tawny owl that he had decided to call Tobias, and Sirius walked out with an incredibly handsome cat, which he had dubbed the Mrs. Norris slayer after hearing the rumours that the caretaker had always kept a cat called Mrs. Norris. But after looking at Mrs. Potter, who had a look so furious he doubted any look of innocence would save him, Sirius decided to call him Slay for a nickname. As they were about to leave, James saw a group of boys who were obviously first years as well, but when he grinned at them they simply looked away. Except for a boy with dark hair and a hooked nose, who had stared after him with a nasty look long after he had gone. 


	4. Aboard the Hogwarts Express

Chapter 3 – Aboard the Hogwarts express  
  
James and Sirius stood on platform 9 ¾ with identical grins on their faces. They had spent their holidays reading their books (which surprised Mrs. Potter) and using the spells they learned and the potions that they attempted to cause trouble in the Potter house (which didn't surprise Mrs. Potter). One memorable day they had turned Mrs. Potters robes bright pink before she went to work, she hadn't realised until she saw the boys grinning and apparently holding back their laughs. The punishment had also been memorable as they had had their clothes turned pink for a week, and it would've lasted longer if they hadn't worked out the counter charm (you can't change the colour of clothes that are under the influence of a spell). From this they learned with great power comes the greater responsibility to know how to undo what they have done.  
  
"James will you come here for a minute?" Mr. Potter called to James "But dad, the trains about to leave!" "Its important," James told Sirius to save him a seat. As he walked over to his dad he noticed a long cloak that looked like it had been woven out of water in his hands. "What's that?" James asked, as his dad handed him the cloak. "This, is an invisibility cloak, and I have decided your need for it is greater than mine" His father winked at him as he looked at the cloak in awe. He heard the trains whistle, stuttered his thanks and jumped onto the moving train. Mr. Potter was a prankster at heart, just like he was. James had been told that he had changed when he fell in love with James's mother, and James had made a mental note never to fall in love with a girl. Besides they were just giggling prats, he thought, as he walked along the train looking for the compartment that Sirius was in.  
  
When he found Sirius at a compartment quite close to the back of the train, he put on his cloak and sat down. Sirius was with a boy slightly smaller than them with fair hair and a tired look on his face. Currently he was reading the standard book of spells grade 1, which he and Sirius had mastered easily. "Where is James?" Sirius said impatiently as the fair-haired boy looked up from his book. "Don't worry, he probably hasn't found the compartment," the fair-haired boy had said, and James thought that he must be a good kid if Sirius was talking to him. "Oh I found the compartment easily," James said, pulling off his fathers cloak and looking at the surprised faces. Sirius recovered first. "That was bloody brilliant James," "Who's he?" James asked, he didn't want to go through the whole ride naming him in his mind after the tone of his hair. "I'm Remus Lupin," he said with a grin on his face, and James knew he'd be a fun guy to hang out with from the look on his face. "And you must be James Potter." "That's right, nice to meet you" he shook Remus's hand "Odd name. Remus was Romulus's brother right. The ones who were raised by a wolf?" "How'd you know?" he said grinning again. "You read any of the books yet. They're amazing" "Yup. Me and Sirius got through them in a week." Remus looked at them, clearly impressed. They started to talk about Hogwarts, and which house they hoped to be in. They all wanted to be sorted into Gryffindor, but Sirius thought he'd go into Slytherin because all of his family had been sorted into it. Remus said he'd probably go into Ravenclaw, but he'd leave if he was put into Slytherin, and they all agreed.  
  
After the snack trolley had passed (and Sirius and James had bought half of its contents sharing them with Remus, who came from a poor family) they changed into their robes. Sirius took a chocolate frog and changed its colour to make it look surprisingly real, then let it out of the compartment. After it bounced around awhile, causing complete chaos, he shouted out into the train "Warts! I've lost my frog. Oh please someone catch him! My poor Warts!" Remus and James fell onto the floor laughing at this, but stopped abruptly as a girl walked into the compartment holding the chocolate frog. After picking himself up, James studied the girl. She was quite shorter than them, had long red hair that covered a clever looking face. Her eyes were an amazing green and James thought she was possibly the most beautiful girl he had seen, although she was a girl and therefore a prat. She had an angry expression but her eyes betrayed her, showing the worry for Sirius. "Your frog was bouncing around my compartment, while I was trying to read!" she glared at Sirius, but then gave him the frog. "Oh thank you! I've got Warts!" he said holding up the frog. Then he finished his joke, pulling the frog towards him and biting its head off. "Tastes good! Thanks" he said with a grin on his face. The girl looked horrified and everyone who had heard Sirius's cry looked disgusted. James and Remus fell on the floor, quite literally. The driver could probably hear their laughter as they tried to speak. "That.... was...." James said in between laughter fits "Brill...iant..." Remus said screaming with laughter. The girl was surprised at their laughter and so were numerous others. "It's a chocolate frog, I changed it's colour to green and let it hop off so people would think it was my frog" Sirius explained after eating the rest of the still realistic chocolate frog. Everyone except the girl had laughed very hard at the explanation of the prank, but the girl still looked disgusted. "I don't think that was very funny," the girl said as James recovered and then burst out another time, with Remus still rolling on the floor laughing. "Well then you're in the minority miss..." Sirius left the sentence hanging in the air "Lily Evans" Lily said still glaring at Sirius. "Well miss Evans, you should lighten up," Lily left the room without asking for their names.  
  
They spent the rest of the trip trying to stop laughing. They failed miserably. "Well this will be a very interesting year if there are a few more people like her in the school." Sirius said grinning. "Looks like the trains slowing down" 


	5. Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizard...

Chapter 4 – Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry  
  
"Firs' years, over here, come on" Sirius, James and Remus heard the voice and could quite clearly see the person it was attached to over the crowd of students. A giant of a man, with small beetle black eyes and a fierce black beard was calling for all the first years. James knew he was going like this man, he had been told about Hagrid the gamekeeper at Hogwarts, he was a nice man who liked deadly monsters and hated the caretaker and his cat. Definitely his kind of person.  
  
"Hey Hagrid!" He called up to the giant, who looked down searching for the voice. "Oh no' another Potter" he grumbled but obviously looked pleased. He got them to the edge of a lake and told them to get into a boat, with no more than four to a boat. James, Sirius and Remus got into a boat and were joined by Lily, who looked livid.  
  
"My friends boat was full," She muttered and then said that if they tried to speak to her again after the incident on the train, they would regret it. "Fine, we won't talk to you" Sirius said but both Remus and James saw the mischievous glint in his eyes. "Man I'm excited, my stomach is jumping around like crazy," Lily chose to ignore this but Sirius saw she looked a little sick at the mention of her humiliation, and Sirius of course used this to his advantage. "Lily, what's wrong you look a little..." he paused "green" he said with an innocent look on his face. Lily snapped and pushed Sirius who pretended to lose his balance, and then really did as Lily pushed him again. Sirius put his arms onto the side of the boat and was grabbed by Remus and James, but far from using their support to pull himself up, he pulled them into the lake. All three of them were shaking with laughter as Hagrid pulled them back into their own boat one by one. "That," James said, the huge grin on his face growing bigger by the second "was brilliant" Remus nodded vigorously and Sirius was laughing uncontrollably. "Keep rowing or we wont get there!" Lily said looking concerned; they were a little behind. "Oh shut up, no one asked you to join us," Sirius said angrily, but he grabbed his oar and started rowing. When they finally got to land, a stern looking witch whose hair was in a tight bun greeted the first years and told Hagrid that she could take it from there. The three boys all shouted goodbye, not caring that the witch was glaring at them.  
  
"Well now that you three have decided to grow up," the witch started but was cut short by Sirius, wearing his number one, most innocent looking face with a hint of cuteness. "We were only saying goodbye, he got us out of the lake" At this, James grinned and Remus looked a tad concerned. Some of the first year girls giggled and whispered, most of the comments containing the word cute. The witch looked like she was going to say something, then decide against it.  
  
"I am professor Mcgonagall, I teach transfiguration here at the school. Now if you'll kindly follow me, the sorting ceremony is about to begin," She gave a quick speech about the houses and how they were important, and then led them into the great hall. The first thing James noticed was the roof that looked like it simply opened up to the sky, and the floating candles. James saw four house tables and the students looking at a hat on a stool. He looked at it to and began to get extremely nervous. He asked Sirius if he knew what they were going have to do, but Sirius was scowling at a girl on the Slytherin table who looked a lot like him. "That's Bellatrix, James," Sirius explained. Sirius had told him about her, describing her as a nasty vicious girl who believed in everything his parents believed in, she was his cousin. Just as Sirius turned to the hat it burst open and sang:  
  
"I'm the Hogwart's sorting hat I'll tell you where you are at If you are brave and defend the needy And you never think to be greedy You belong with the courageous at heart In that Gryffindor lark If you are friendly and loyal And unafraid of toil Then in Helga's house of hard work Hufflepuff will not accept birks Or maybe you are keen of mind Knowledge is important to your kind Then in Ravenclaw you belong To join the rest of your throng But if you are sly and cunning And from the other houses running Then in Slytherin of the snake Lies in your wake All the houses are great Your house decides your fate The houses are not there to win So let the sorting begin"  
  
Professor Mcgonagall then began to call names off of the list of first years. When Sirius was sorted a lot of people clapped and he gave a mock bow. He was sorted into Gryffindor. Lily Evans was also sorted into Gryffindor (Remus and James groaned at this) Remus, a small boy with mousy hair called Peter Pettigrew, and a boy with a clever face and a huge grin called Frank Longbottom were all sorted into Gryffindor as well. When it was James turn to be sorted a few people clapped as well, both he and Sirius had pulled several tricks during the train ride. He put the hat on his head and heard a small voice in his ear.  
  
Hmmm? There's talent, a lot of talent here, you could do well in Ravenclaw. But you're a good friend so maybe Hufflepuff? Never Slytherin for this one he's too noble, although he has cunning. I want to go into Gryffindor, James thought. Of course you're going to Gryffindor you're brave more than anything.  
  
"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouted. James took off the hat and walked over to the Gryffindor table, which now had acquired both Sirius Black and James Potter, and was cheering very noisily. Now that he had been sorted he saw that the boy with the hooked nose and greasy dark hair was just about to be sorted. Severus Snape was sorted into Slytherin along with Crabbe and Goyle and were talking animatedly with Lucius Malfoy, a seventh year Slytherin with sleek white-blonde hair. Sirius looked so happy not to be in Slytherin, he was grinning madly when James had been sorted into Gryffindor with him and Remus. But they were soon looking at the empty tables, incredibly hungry. Dumbledore, an old man with a beard approaching his waist and long white hair, stood up. He had been sitting in the middle chair at the staff table and was obviously the headmaster. "I have a few notices," Dumbledore began, and Sirius groaned loudly. Dumbledore chuckled and said, "But maybe now is not the time, so tuck in!"  
  
Sirius, Remus and James were amazed as so much food appeared in front of them, vast platefuls of seemingly everything (including for a strange reason mint humbugs). There looked as if there was enough food to support a small country on the plates, which seemed to be refilling them. "Well, it looks like they have enough food for Sirius if we cut down on our eating Remus" James said, Remus sniggered but Sirius took no notice. After the food and then the puddings ("Fireberry Ice-cream, James!" said a delighted Sirius) Dumbledore warned them not to go near the Forbidden forest, introduced the new potions teacher, Professor Firada, and told them to go to bed. A Gryffindor prefect name Arthur Weasley led them to their dormitory. James fell asleep instantly, along with Remus and Sirius. They were all looking forward to the next day. 


	6. Professors Firada and Adarif

Chapter 5 – Professors Firada and Adarif  
  
James woke up early in the morning and, unable to contain his excitement, walked down the dormitory stairs and into the common room. Well, he thought, if the Head boy was truthful in his comment about people spending most of their free time here, it looked like he was going to have to break the mould. Sure the room looked welcoming and comfortable, but the adventurer in his soul said spending more than one or two hours in the same place was as interesting as watching paint dry. He decided to have breakfast early and walked to the great hall, surprisingly not getting lost (which was due to his uncanny ability to remember details of a journey, even if the corridors moved) and sat down on the Gryffindor table. He was one of the first students to eat, but most of the staff table were eating. After watching the new teacher, professor Firada, and a young teacher who had evil looking black eyes and hair to match arguing about something (I wonder what that was about thought James) he picked up his plate of sausages and began to eat. After awhile he saw Sirius and a very groggy Remus making their way towards them.  
  
"Lo, James" Remus slurred, looking very tired and somewhat older than he was. "Come on Remus, its our first day aren't you excited? Oh hi James," Sirius said, looking a little put out at Remus's unenthusiastic attitude. "You shouldn't have woken me up so early, I hardly get enough sleep anyway." "And why is that?" "I wonder what subjects we have today," Remus said thoughtfully, changing the subject. Sirius thought about pressing the subject, opened his mouth, then closed it and passed him their timetables. "What a day!" James said looking at his timetable "Double Potions with the Ravenclaws, Double Herbology with the Slytherins and Defence against the Dark arts" James did not like double lessons. "Potions is supposed to be a bitch," Sirius said without taking his eyes off of his breakfast and then continued "But that new professor is young, so maybe she hasn't learned."  
  
Just then the mousy haired boy with equally mousy features walked down. He was skinny, like he had been starved, but he grabbed a plate and ate his breakfast with gusto. "Like your food, eh Peter?" Remus asked, obviously remembering the boys name from the sorting "looks like Sirius has got competition." "Ee erff no machhh fer me," Sirius said quite impressively through at least four sausages. "Uoo thirnk sor?" Said Peter equally impressively; he had the full English breakfast in his mouth. After that both boys started to cram food into their mouths like it was their last meal. "How disgusting!" Lily said, sitting down closest to Remus, who seemed to give off an aura of wisdom. James silently thanked the gods that he didn't do the same, girls were number one on the list of trouble to the young boy's mind. Peter grinned apologetically but Sirius seemed infuriated.  
  
"Bugger off killjoy," he muttered fiercely, Sirius seemed to have taken a great disliking to Lily "No one asked you to speak or to voice your opinions and especially to sit near us, so if you don't like it you know where the door is and feel free to let it knock you on the floor!" James sniggered and Remus sighed, Peter just looked confused at Sirius's hostility.  
  
Sirius was still muttering darkly as they entered the dungeons. He took a seat at the back with Remus and James, but Peter looked unsure as where to sit. "Come sit with us Peter, your cool" Sirius said, any boy who matched his stomach was a friend to be awed. Peter sat down, still looking a little nervous.  
  
"Welcome first years," professor Firada said greeting her class as she walked in "to Potions. I have heard rumours that this class is viewed as a boring class, but if you pay attention and try your best I assure you that you will have fun." Some of the class looked doubtful, Lily and her friends at the front looked eager but Sirius and James simply looked bored. "We will be brewing a potion of quick wits today," she explained as she writ the ingredients on a blackboard at the front "It is a potion that gives the user heightened wit and intelligence for a very short time, and will only work on a user that is not at his or her peak. These flaws are made up for in the fact that it is a very simple potion. Lets begin."  
  
Potions wasn't as bad as the class had feared. Professor Firada was a kind teacher who took the time to explain things to her class. James and Sirius managed to make their potions well enough, they weren't perfect, but good for a first try. Remus looked a little unsure, but made his potion fine with a little help from professor Firada. But Peter was very surprising; he managed to brew his potion perfectly and didn't need any help. He explained to his stunned friends that he loved all things plant and potions used lots of plants.  
  
"So Herbology is going to be right up your street then, that could be useful" Sirius said grinning. "What d-do you mean?" Peter squeaked, looking nervously from Sirius to James, who both had identical wide grins on their faces. "Well, me and Sirius were talking about stirring up some trouble around this joint on a regular basis and it might be useful to have your botanical talents on our side, what do you say?" James asked and explained to Peter who grinned. "Why of course," Peter said, mocking a bow "and I've heard Remus here is a great charms man." Remus mumbled something about having experimented with a few, but James and Sirius took this as modesty and said that they would view his talents in said lesson but expressing their confidence. "This school need some trouble," Sirius nudged Remus "And us four are gonna give it to them,"  
  
After the bell rang they headed to the greenhouses, where professor Sprout told them that they would be learning the properties of Swifflewig, which turned out to have properties similar to alcohol and was vital to the brewing of Firewhisky and Butterbeer. "Reckon you could brew some good Firewhisky if we got some of that stuff Peter?" Sirius asked. "Probably, but I'd need some sort of fireberry flavouring and some whiskygrass," "Both Swifflewig and Whisky grass are in greenhouse one, but they're unavailable to students," Remus pointed out. "What we need," James said thoughtfully "Is a distraction." Sirius finished and then said, "Which happens to be my new middle name" He then proceeded to grab Peter's vial of quick wits, down it in one, and thought. Then he walked over to a small plant pot and poked it with his wand. It let out a very loud but muffled squeal, and everyone ducked to the floor covering their ears. This gave ample time for James and Peter, who got what they needed. Professor Sprout did not look happy. "We will be studying those plants, the Mandragora Drakes, in our second year if we survive until then Mr. Black!" Sirius grinned sheepishly. Professor sprout looked as if she was about to give a detention but Sirius quickly put on his face of first year innocence and cuteness, earning just a warning. The Slytherins in the greenhouse looked angrily towards the four boys, but the Gryffindors seemed impressed by Sirius.  
  
After that lesson they had lunch, in which both Sirius and Peter managed to eat four helpings, gaining looks of disgust from the girls as they ate quickly. "As if we care what they think," Sirius muttered coldly as he pushed past one of Lily's friends, Isabella, on their way to DADA.  
  
It didn't take a minute for Sirius to realise that the professor, Adarif (the one Firada was arguing with), was not going to be fooled by such concepts as innocence from him. "I know that you have had potions, with my younger brat of a sister, Firada, but let me warn you, I am her opposite. I am not going to make this lesson easy or fun, you are here to learn. Copy this down." They walked out of Adarif's lesson looking distinctly ticked off; he was horrible. He took points from their house because Peter stammered, points from Sirius for calling him Ady (Sirius always pushes his luck) and worst of all he took them from Remus for absolutely no reason. "I wonder why he hates you Remus," James pondered out loud. Remus quickly changed the subject to how they were going to brew the Firewhisky, which was surprising, as he had seemed to oppose the idea before.  
  
"Well, I've got some Fireberry Ice cream left from the feats" Sirius said to inquisitive looks from his friends, "What? I kept it in a bag so I could re-freeze it." James muttered about his friend's mealtime habits but Peter looked delighted. "Well let's light a fire in our dormitory and start brewing" Peter set up his cauldron and started to mix the ingredients, occasionally checking his book, Brewers guide to Brewin' by Icarus Nighthabit (a present from his father). "Well, it will take about a week to ferment, but Sirius managed to save enough cream to make four pints of Firecreamwhisky, my own brand of improvised Firewhisky, and we can save the excess of the other ingredients to make some new flavours of whisky later." Peter declared to his friends, who looked at him in awe. "This will be great," Sirius said grinning madly. They stayed up late as Peter stirred the mixture, talking about their plans for the whisky and the day that had just passed.  
  
"Professor Firada is cool, Potions is gonna be a blast ain't it?" James said looking eagerly at the cauldron full of the illicit brew. "But her brother is a complete ass," Sirius said darkly looking at Remus " I'm gonna get him for taking those points from you." But Remus had fallen asleep. Peter told them that they would each get a pint in a week, but drinking more than 100 ml at a time was severely dangerous. Sirius grinned and whispered something about slipping some into a teacher's goblet, at which James laughed and Peter grinned nervously and eagerly at the same time. Soon they were all asleep, as the concoction bubbled merrily in the corner, hidden from view. 


	7. The effects of Fire whisky

Chapter 6 – The effects of Firewhisky  
  
A/N: This chapter contains references to alcohol usage (or is surprisingly similar to the effects of alcohol). I feel this is a PG 13 topic, but you have been warned.  
  
The week passed fairly uneventfully, except that the boys of Gryffindor tower were involved in some unfortunate "accidents" that all seemed to involve the new caretaker Argus Filch, or his cat Mrs. Norris. After one particularly bad "accident" the boys wound up in detention, cleaning the floor in a corridor at midnight, on their hands and knees scrubbing without magic.  
  
"This is so unfair!" Peter moaned, grabbing a sponge and wringing its load onto the floor with a sigh. "Well, if you hadn't been found with the incriminating sausage..." Remus began but was cut off by Sirius, "You charmed it to attack the cat!" "Well I happen to think that it was worth it," James grinned, and remembering their prank the boys stopped bickering and agreed that any amount of scrubbing was worth seeing Filch fight off his dinner, and because Filch was a squib, without magic.  
  
"Anyway," he continued "The Firewhisky will be done tomorrow, we can drink it on Saturday evening." They had stolen some bottles from the Potions lab, and were eagerly awaiting their dice with drunkenness.  
  
"The groups working surprisingly well, what with Peter's Potions talent," At this Peter grinned and did a little jig "James's skill at Transfiguration," James gave a mock bow, and they all grinned at the memory of James turning professor Adarif's goblet into a coffee mug which had a picture of a rabbit on, making all the teachers grin and professor Firada to laugh out loud at her brother. "Remus's skill with charm," Remus was indeed better at charms than most, except for Lily.  
  
"And my general godliness at all things mischievous," Sirius finished causing the other three boys to throw their sponges at him. Filch saw this and made them scrub for another two hours, making Sirius say some things that none of the others had heard before.  
  
"By the way, how is your grandma, Remus?" James asked curiously as they walked up the stairs to their common room. Remus had had to visit his grandmother on Wednesday and it really interfered with his work, he was worrying all day. "Umm, well, I think she's ok but I might need to visit her next week." Remus quickly changed the subject and they talked eagerly about tomorrow night, but James made a mental note of the date Remus left.  
  
The next day they slept well into the afternoon, being woken up by the commotion in the common room. Professor Mcgonagall was glaring at Lily, which caused the groggy guys to smirk; Lily was a good student and was one of Mcgonagall's favourites along with James and Sirius who spent their lessons talking and doing nothing yet still producing their correctly transfigured objects. "You're awake!" Mcgonagall practically shouted at them, "Miss Evans has been led to believe that you've been brewing Firewhisky, which, apart from being illegal and harmful at your age, would be impossible for a first year to brew!" James felt a burst of pride for Peter; he was seen as untalented by most and usually did fairly bad in anything other than Potions or Herbology. Many wandered why James and Sirius hung out with him, they were considered popular. "I was just saying that you couldn't have, and now you can explain how she got such a ridiculous idea in her head!" Remus looked ill, James looked nervously at Sirius but Peter spoke up, "Why of course we didn't," Peter scowled at Lily "I don't know how anyone could get such an idea." But it was obvious that Frank, who shared their dormitory, must have let something slip. James started to get seriously nervous, they had cleared the cauldron, but the bottles were in their cupboard, which would be the first place to look. He glanced nervously at Peter, who grinned (obviously pleased with himself) and told Mcgonagall she was welcome to search their dormitory. She walked up to their room and looked around. No cauldron, no bottles, she looked relieved. But suddenly she opened the cupboard, and James silently cursed Peters sudden burst of bravery. But she turned around and said, "Well I knew you wouldn't be so foolish as to brew such a thing, and certainly not talented enough." James felt that pride again, and saw Sirius was smirking as he told Mcgonagall that he would be surprised if professor Firada could brew it, and she was the potions master. She walked out, leaving them to congratulate Peter.  
  
"That was bloody brilliant mate!" Sirius grinned at him, and Peter smiled nervously. "So where are the bottles?" At this Peter sniggered and said they were still in the cupboard. James looked in, saw nothing and told Peter he should stop mucking around. Peter sighed, reached into the cupboard and mimed pulling out something loose and hard to carry. He pretended to lay it on his bed and then gave something a quick pull, revealing four bottles of Firewhisky and James's invisibility cloak. "People look with their eyes, not with their hands." He said with a huge grin. They hid them until Frank got into bed, and then pulled out a bottle.  
  
"Well, I think we should drink to Peter as he brewed this delight!" James said with a hint of mockery in his voice. Sirius continued,  
  
"And we shall also drink to Remus's grandmothers health and my mothers ill health," They all snorted and poured out four even doses from the pint (about 100 ml each) leaving a tiny amount at the bottom. Sirius pocketed the bottle, giving them a wink. After downing the Firewhisky, the boys changed, and to anyone who saw them that night the reason why Firewhisky was sold only to wizards of age would become apparent. James and Sirius immediately declared they should explore the castle, swaying as they walked down the stairs. Remus started grinning and followed them, and Peter, the shortest of the four, jumped down all of the stairs, cartwheeled and became quite hyper. They got to the fat lady and walked through the portrait, Remus, James and Sirius holding each other for support, and Peter running around them in circles and darting around uncontrollably.  
  
"Lets get that git Filch!" Remus slurred and James and Sirius agreed. "Get Filch, Filch, Filch, Filch! He's there, there, there, THERE!" Peter said in his hyper state, pointing at Mrs. Norris. Even in James's drunken state that meant bad news. "Quick back to the common room," He shouted with confidence, but looked desperately around him, he had altogether lost his sense of direction. They ran, none as fast as Peter, down the stairs, crashing into things and making a large amount of noise. Peter darted back in the other direction, and so did the other boys when they noticed Filch chasing after them.  
  
"Get back here you marauding scumbags!" He shouted as they ran. They were lost pretty badly and had to duck into an empty classroom to avoid Filch's wrath. They ran as soon as they heard Filch mutter darkly as he stalked away, and found the common room and ran through the portrait. But they stopped quite suddenly as they were confronted by professor Mcgonagall, who did not look happy. "Miss Evans warned me that you might be up tonight, and it looks like you have been!" She said angrily. Sirius looked suddenly like he had fell back to earth, James stuttered about exploring the castle and Remus just kept his mouth shut. Peter was still hyper, and twitching like a mouse. "Get into bed now!" She yelled. They all went to bed, with grins at the escape of serious trouble. But in the morning their heads were killing them. Sirius groaned as he walked down to breakfast, pouring something out of a bottle into his empty goblet. The others stumbled into the great hall, gripping their heads. "And the lord said, yay, verily, ye shall have been punished for thou merriment with thee king of all hangovers," Remus mumbled quietly sitting next to James. Lily, who was sitting close, smirked smugly at them. "Well, you were warned not to drink that stuff bu- Sirius you idiot!" She had been knocked by the seemingly half-awake Sirius, whose drink spilled into her goblet. He mumbled his apologies as Lily drank deeply, scowling at him. As she walked off, muttering darkly, Sirius grinned at them, gave a small wink and said, "That'll teach miss know it all a lesson about getting on my nerves on a bad morning." 


End file.
